Going from a custom built site to Joomla.

Hey all,
I have a buddy who works for a company that is looking to re-vamp its website. They want to increase the capabilities of the DB driven portion of the site (ability to collect more information to add to customer records, more queries and better reports) and also re-vamp the front-end to accomodate these changes and also give the site a more modern look.

Their IT guy recommended Joomla for the project, but I'm hesitant to give him my approval on that.

The site is currently built in PHP, so would need to go from a custom-built PHP site to a Joomla site, just to re-vamp the DB and front end.

Would making the entire site Joomla-driven be a more in-depth task than just re-vamping the DB and front end and just keeping it as a custom built PHP site?

That's what I'm thinking. I don't know Joomla or how it hooks in, but I'd imagine interweaving it with an entire site (as opposed to just a blog, login, etc.) might be a task?
Have you ever worked in Joomla?

It takes just as much, if not a little more effort (learning Joomla's backend), do probably do what you're asking with Joomla. If someone had the skills to work with Joomla, they also have to skills the code the PHP and MySQL without Joomla too.

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It takes just as much, if not a little more effort (learning Joomla's backend), do probably do what you're asking with Joomla. If someone had the skills to work with Joomla, they also have to skills the code the PHP and MySQL without Joomla too.

But say someone had the Joomla skills already, is what needs to be done better fit for a standard revamping (just building additions with php), or would there be any benefit/advantage to re-building in Joomla?

Ive never worked with Joomla, and really not much PHP either. But if he is working alone to do this then just tell him to do whichever languae he is more comfortable in, no point in learning a new language if not necessary. If he isnt working alone and has a team with him or boss to answer to, then tell him to see which they want it in, if he has no preference either way then he might as well make others happy.

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Ive never worked with Joomla, and really not much PHP either. But if he is working alone to do this then just tell him to do whichever languae he is more comfortable in, no point in learning a new language if not necessary. If he isnt working alone and has a team with him or boss to answer to, then tell him to see which they want it in, if he has no preference either way then he might as well make others happy.

Nobody in the company has any technical expertise except for the IT guy who recommended Joomla because "everyone knows working with a CMS is easier than working without a CMS".

I just think the Joomla route isn't the best idea, looking for second opinions.